Tracy Nolan is a Fortune 100 executive, board director and change advisor known for transforming moments of change into growth catalysts.
“If you’re feeling stressed, your team feels it tenfold just by reading your facial expressions and body language.” A mentor shared these words with me years ago, fundamentally changing how I understood leadership’s impact.
Throughout my Fortune 100 career, I’ve learned that leaders cast shadows far larger than they realize. These shadows shape everything around us, building people up or tearing them down, creating energy or draining it from the room.
How Everything Gets Amplified
Early in my career, I thought preparation was everything. I’d review presentations endlessly, trying to script every scenario that might come up. Without realizing it, my perfectionism had rippled through the entire organization.
My team started mirroring this behavior, unable to have real conversations without being scripted. I wasn’t getting candid feedback anymore. My over-perfection had created an environment where people weren’t comfortable having authentic discussions.
This is what I call the shadow effect: When you say something needs to be “big and green,” by the time it reaches the frontline, it needs to be “gigantic and bright green with light green specks.” Your words, actions and mood get copied and amplified as they cascade through the organization.
When Perfection Was Required
Recently, my team faced an impossible goal: achieving a zero failure rate in a call testing environment over a four-month period. It was critical to figure out how to reinvent the process and create multiple stages of redundancy—not only in answering the phones but also in multiple processes for operational failures. It required new ways of working, training and an ability to work under pressure.
The team was nervous. Past experience told them this level of perfection was unattainable. But I knew that if I showed nervousness or doubt, that shadow would destroy any chance of success. Instead, I had to cast a shadow of confidence and support, even when I was holding my breath during critical moments.
When one team member made an error, another leader suggested we remove that member from the project. I did the opposite. If I removed people for every mistake, we’d have no one left, and I’d cast a shadow of fear rather than innovation. That person needed to know they were part of a team, that we could fail, learn and try again.
We reimagined our operations with redundant systems for everything. For four months straight, the team performed flawlessly. They achieved what many thought impossible—not because I demanded perfection through fear, but because I cast a shadow of belief in their ability to achieve excellence.
Small Behaviors, Big Impact
We unknowingly shape culture through a thousand small daily behaviors most of us never think about. Do you say hello to people when you walk by them? When you enter a Zoom call, do you greet everyone or just wait silently for the meeting to start? These micro-moments matter more than any culture initiative or mission statement, because it’s these unscripted, organic interactions that truly shape how people experience your organization.
I’ve noticed that multitasking during virtual meetings has become normalized. Recently, I caught myself grabbing something from a shelf during a call and stopped to explain what I was doing. If the team sees me disengaged, they’ll think it’s acceptable to be disengaged. If I’m not paying attention, why should they?
Communication patterns are powerful. How much do you listen versus talk? When was the last time someone on your senior team thanked someone outside their organization? These behaviors create norms that either build bridges or silos.
Know Your Real Impact
You can conduct all the culture surveys you want, but if you really want to know the shadow you’re casting, look at your retention data—not just overall turnover, but the patterns within it. If new hires are leaving within six months, that might indicate a culture resistant to change, while top performers getting promoted out of your organization could signal you’re developing talent but not creating opportunities for them to grow within your own walls.
One organization I worked with had excellent retention and survey scores, yet new employees were leaving rapidly. High retention doesn’t always mean a healthy culture—it might mean your shadow is maintaining comfort rather than driving growth.
Also, examine hiring timelines and internal promotion rates to reveal whether people want to join your team and grow there.
Making The Shift
If you recognize that your shadow needs adjustment, start with just two or three deliberate changes, and people will notice immediately. One leader I know, Annie, started sending weekly “applause” emails recognizing contributions across departments rather than just her own, and “Annie’s Applause” shifted the entire dynamic from siloed competition to collaborative appreciation.
The changes don’t need to be dramatic. Take a moment to thank people for their hard work, greet everyone on the call rather than just senior leaders and be deliberate about these actions until they become natural.
Most importantly, develop self-awareness about your emotional state. If you’re having a terrible day, your team won’t just sense it; they’ll assume the company is in trouble. It’s better to cancel a meeting than to show up distracted and disengaged, unintentionally casting a shadow of chaos or indifference.
The Reality Of Leadership
Leading at senior levels means accepting that you don’t get many bad days. Every interaction, every decision casts a shadow that shapes how thousands of people show up to work. You can have the most brilliant strategy and operational plans, but if you’re not conscious of the shadow you cast, none of it matters.
I never realized how sensitive this could be. How I showed up could create ripples throughout the organization. Now I know that even one comment can be misconstrued or amplified in a way that creates real negativity.
In leadership, the game is always on. Your shadow is always visible, always influential and always shaping the culture around you. We’re all casting shadows whether we realize it or not. What matters is being intentional about the shadow you cast each day.
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